1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of electronic communication. In particular, the present invention relates to methods and systems for selecting criteria for a successful acknowledgement message criteria in instant messaging.
2. The Prior State of the Art
Computer networking, and in particular the evolution of the Internet, has transformed the way people communicate and share information. One important technology used in conjunction with computer networks is called “electronic mail” or “e-mail.” E-mail allows a sending individual to compose a text message on his/her computer system and then transmit that text message over the computer network to a destination computer system, typically a server computer system, associated with a receiving individual. Once the receiving individual establishes a connection with his/her server computer system, the receiving individual can then retrieve the electronic mail message.
An advantage of electronic mail is that individuals can communicate over very large distances in significantly less time than it would take to physically mail a letter to that location. In addition, modern electronic mail systems allow for the inclusion of “attachments” which may essentially be any file type including text files and even executable files. Thus, entire files can be conveniently transported from one location to another. Once received, the electronic mail text message and any associated attachments are in electronic form and therefore may be easily manipulated by a healthy variety of widely available software packages.
Although electronic mail transmissions typically take less time than physically mailing a letter from one location to another, it can still be a matter of minutes, hours, or even days to transmit an electronic message. In some circumstances, it may be desirable to transmit messages even faster. One technology that enables much faster electronic communication is called “instant messaging.”
As the name implies, “instant messaging” permits a sending individual to quickly transmit an electronic message to a receiving individual in a matter of seconds and often within a second. Thus, two individuals can essentially communicate electronically in real time. Instant messaging requires that each individual in the electronic conversation be “logged in.” In this description and in the claims, “logged in” means that they either have a dedicated connection to the network such as the Internet used to transmit the instant message, or they are connected to a computer system (typically an instant messaging server) that has a dedicated connection to the network.
When transmitting an instant message, it is often desirable to know whether or not the instant message was successfully delivered. For this reason, acknowledgement messages are often returned back to the instant message sender indicating the success or failure of the instant message transmission.
An acknowledgement message that indicates the successful delivery of an instant message will be referred to in this description and in the claims as a “successful” acknowledgement message. There are several circumstances in which a “successful”acknowledgement message may be returned back to the instant message sender. This ambiguity may leave the sender of the instant message somewhat confused as to the meaning of a “successful” acknowledgement message.
Therefore, what are desired are systems and methods for acknowledging delivery of an instant message in which the meaning of a “successful” acknowledgement message is more clearly defined and understandable to the sender of the instant message.